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/usr/sbin/sendmail specification proposal



[ Okay, I removed lsb-discuss from the Cc list. ]

Jim Knoble <jmknoble@pobox.com> writes:

> For example, the command-line options that overlap between sendmail and 
> exim (and perhaps the sendmail interface to qmail) might be a good start.

This sounds right to me.

I took a quick look (that lasted several hours) at sendmail, exim,
qmail's sendmail wrapper, smail, and the Netscape sendmail wrapper.
Anyway, here are the /usr/sbin/sendmail options that seem to be
well-supported and at least somewhat useful.  Please review it and we
can incorporate it into the LSB utility specification.

------- start of cut text --------------
NAME
     /usr/sbin/sendmail - an electronic mail transport agent

SYNOPSIS
     sendmail [flags] [address ...]

DESCRIPTION
     This program sends an email message to one or more recipients,
     routing the message as necessary.  This is not intended as a user
     interface routine.

     With no flags, sendmail reads its standard input up to an
     end-of-file or a line consisting only of a single dot and sends a
     copy of the message found there to all of the addresses listed.
     It determines the network(s) to use based on the syntax and
     contents of the addresses.

     If aliasing is supported on the local system, it can be prevented
     by preceding the address with a backslash.

OPTIONS

     -bm       Deliver mail to the recipient addresses.  This is the
               default mode of operation.

     -bp       List information about messages currently in the input
               mail queue.

     -bs       Use the SMTP protocol as described in RFC 821.  (Read
               SMTP commands on standard input and produce SMTP replies
               on standard output.)

     -F fullname
               Explicitly set the full name of the sender for incoming
               mail.

     -f name   
               Explicitly set the sender address for incoming mail (the
               "from" person).

     -i        Ignore dots alone on lines by themselves in incoming
               messages.
 
     -odb      If background delivery is supported, deliver any mail in
               background.

     -odf      Deliver any mail in foreground.

     -oee or -ee
               These options refer to a BERKENET error processing style
               which is not required.  If not supported, report errors
               in the same manner as -oem.

     -oem or -em
               Mail errors back to the sender (default).

     -oep or -ep
               Write errors to the standard error output.

     -oeq or -eq
               Do not send notification of errors to the sender.  This
               only works for mail delivered locally.

     -oew or -ew
               Write errors to the sender's terminal using the write(1)
               command, if he is logged in.  Otherwise, mail errors back
               to the sender.  If not supported, report errors in the
               same manner as -oem.

     -oi       Same as -i.

     -om       This option means 'me too', indicating that the sender of
               a message should receive a copy of the message if the
               sender appears in an alias expansion.

     -t        Read message for recipients. To:, Cc:, and Bcc: lines will
               be scanned for people to send to.  The Bcc: line will be
               deleted before transmission.  Any addresses in the
               argument list will be suppressed.

     -v        Be more verbose.
------- end ----------------------------


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